Fire Emblem Warriors take the Warriors gameplay we’ve come to know over the years and give it a Fire Emblem twist. This isn’t the first Nintendo game to get the treatment either. The Wii U saw The Legend of Zelda series receive the treatment in Hyrule Warriors. The game was later ported to the Nintendo 3DS as Hyrule Warriors Legends.
There are a lot of spin-offs from the Dynasty Warriors games but none are as popular to Nintendo fans as Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors. Fire Emblem Warriors is the newest spin-off and this time it takes the Fire Emblem characters we’ve come to know and love and put them in a hack-n-slash environment instead of the traditional SRPG fashion we’ve been seeing them in.
The title is being pushed as a Nintendo Switch title but we will also be getting a version of the game on New Nintendo 3DS.
Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming release of Fire Emblem Warriors.
1. Fire Emblem Warriors Will Be On New Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch
Fire Emblem Warriors was first announced to the public in January 2017 as part of a Fire Emblem-centric Nintendo Direct. The game had already been in development for two years before that point which is why we’re looking at a release this year.
The idea for the title came during the creation of Hyrule Warriors Legends since the touchscreen controls were familiar to the Fire Emblem games. While you will likely find the best version of the game on the Nintendo Switch, we are also receiving a version that is exclusive to the New Nintendo 3DS.
Hyrule Warriors Legends struggled with the older 3DS hardware which is probably why the choice was made to make this title a New Nintendo 3DS exclusive. The Nintendo 3DS still owns a huge marketshare which is probably why the decision was made to still support Nintendo’s older handheld.
The graphics are sure to take a hit on the New Nintendo 3DS but we have faith in Nintendo to deliver a strong port. During the Treehouse event during E3 2017, there were some pretty noticeable dips in framerate in the Nintendo Switch version. This was several months ago so things could be different now.
2. New Characters Are Mixed in With the Old
Fans can no doubt look forward to some new original characters with this title but we’re also looking at many familiar characters joining the roster. The vast majority of the returning characters are from Fire Emblem Fates and Awakening but we still have a couple older faces show up.
The original characters include Rowan, Lianna, Darius and Yelena. While we just have four new characters, we have over a dozen returning characters. Here’s the full list:
Original Characters:
- Rowan
- Lianna
- Darius
- Yelena
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon:
- Marth
- Caeda
- Tiki
Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia:
- Celica
Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade:
- Lyn
Fire Emblem: Awakening:
- Chrom
- Robin (Male)
- Robin (Female)
- Lissa
- Frederick
- Cordelia
- Lucina
Fire Emblem Fates:
- Corrin (Male)
- Corrin (Female)
- Ryoma
- Hinoka
- Takumi
- Sakura
- Xander
- Camilla
- Leo
- Elise
3. Fire Emblem Warriors Will Have Local Co-op
Something that many modern games have been moving away from is local co-op. Even Halo, which pretty much brought local co-op into the mainstream did away with it with its latest installment. Nintendo has been waving the banner in terms of local co-op and have kept it as selling point for many of their games.
Fire Emblem Warriors will feature local co-op and even single Joy-Con support. The news was confirmed in an interview by Nintendo Life with the developers of Fire Emblem Warriors.
Is Fire Emblem Warriors going to have local splitscreen, similar to Hyrule Warriors?
Hayashi-san: Yes. We anticipated people would like that kind of gameplay, so we’ve made local co-op available where you can separate the joy-con from the system and play splitscreen.
Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of the Wii U gamepad with the Switch so the co-op action will be split-screen instead of having two screens for each player. We don’t know how this bodes for the New Nintendo 3DS version but it definitely won’t have split-screen multiplayer. Hyrule Warriors Legends did not feature any co-op so it’s possible Fire Emblem Warriors will follow a similar path.
4. Fire Emblem Warriors Will Support All Fire Emblem Amiibo
With Fire Emblem being such a long-running series, there are a wide variety of amiibo available for the series. All of these amiibo figures will work in Fire Emblem Warriors in some way but we don’t know exactly how they will work at the moment.
Many new amiibo have been released this year including a set with Fire Emblem: Shadows of Valentia. New Chrom and Tiki amiibo are being released with Fire Emblem Warriors. Outside of this, we don’t know what the amiibo will do. The same Nintendo Life interview asked the question and wasn’t able to get much information out of the development team.
Are there any plans to use the existing Fire Emblem amiibo within Fire Emblem Warriors?
Hayashi-san: Yes. This game is definitely compatible with all the Fire Emblem amiibo that are out here. We can’t say exactly what kind of extras you’ll get from using amiibo in the game, but we can say that they’re compatible.
We will certainly be able to get an update with what they do when the game launches.
5. Fire Emblem Warriors Releases October 20, Has Special Edition
#FireEmblemWarriors Special Edition includes 3 CDs, a dual-sided poster & 25 character art cards! Available Oct. 20th for #NintendoSwitch.
Fire Emblem Warriors launches October 20 for the New Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch. If you’re a collector, you might be interested in what’s included with the special edition.
The special edition includes 3 CDs with music from the game, a dual-sided poster, and 25 character art cards printed on 5-by-7-inch premium card stock with a slip case to hold them in. The poster will feature English on one side and Japanese on the other. The special edition will retail for $79.99.
Considering the game will cost $60 at launch, you’re getting a lot of bonus content for just $20 more. As far as we know, this special edition will only be available for the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
You can purchase the New Nintendo 3DS version here while you can opt for the Nintendo Switch version here and the special edition here. We’re probably looking at limited stock for the special edition so you’ll have to act fast, be patient or give in to the scalpers’ demand.